Nineteen Hundred Sixteen: The Age of Wonder
by Green Gallant
Summary: Alternate History. In 1916 San Francisco on the 10th anniversary of the Great Quake, a group of friends come together and grow up in a world that's changing before they're own eyes. Unaware that one of them hides a great and terrible secret. R/K, G/T.


_Author's Note: All right first new story of the month. Came up with this a while back and I hope you guys like it. Enjoy. Title is midway through the story to differentiate past and 'present'. _

It was the year 1906, a time of great changes in the history of the US. Technology was advancing forward by leaps and bounds. In just a few short years modern conviences such as indoor plumbing and heating was being seen nationwide. Strange new four-wheeled transporters called automobiles were appearing on the country's many brick lined roads and human progress was moving forward towards a strange and wild frontier known as the future. But in the bustling metropolis called San Francisco disaster was about to strike. In the woods on the northern most side of the city a young woman in a black dress ran for her life in the black of night. Holding her floor length skirt in one hand and her young daughter in the other as a man and a woman pursued her. The young woman ran breathlessly as she tore through the foliage hoping to get away from the two who chased after her with lantern and rifle.

It wasn't long until the young woman reached a cliff; she stopped as fast as she could her shoes skidding across the loose dirt coming to a rest at the edge casting pebbles and dirt off the side. She looked down at the dark precipice horrified as a light shone on her from behind. The woman sobbed as she turned to face her captors. With the woman holding the lantern and the man brandishing the gun.

"Its over Mae. Give us the girl." The woman ordered.

"Monsters I know what your intentions are for her. I _wont_ let you have her!" she yelled voice quivering as she held the child tight.

"Mr. Randall." The woman said as the man loaded his rifle.

"No!" she yelled.

"The girl Mae. Lest we send the both of you to your doom." the woman said.

"You're not going to perform your damnable experiment on my daughter!" she hissed.

"Mr. Randall, relieve her." the woman replied coldly.

"Yes ma'am." He said as he went to retrieve the child.

Mae clutched her fist as it started to shake. The pebbles next to her feet started to rattle as Randall made his way over to the woman. A low rumble could be felt beneath their feet and grew in the next few moments. The woman's eyes glowed brilliant yellow as the current surged through the cliff and began to quake violently. Randall staggered backward a step as Mae's skirt started to billow outward and her blonde hair came out of its messy bun and hovered above her.

"Mr. Randall!" his accomplish yelled as he pointed his rifle at Mae.

The girl yelled as she threw out her hand and sent the geometric pulse towards the pair. Randall lost his balance and pulled the trigger causing his gun to discharge into the air. Mae's eyes glowed brighter and a golden aura burst out of her body. The ground fissured many times over and sent the full fury of her power into the earth. A shockwave radiated outward from where she stood and found the San Andreas Faultline sending it directly into San Francisco causing the city's immediate destruction. The ground caved underneath Mae's feet and the young woman plunged off the cliff sending her to her death. Mae screamed as she fell holding her daughter up. A tree root snagged the little girl; Mae was forced to let go as she saw Randall reach over the edge. She closed her eyes as she hit the water. Randall looked on as he reached for the young girl. The mother would never be seen again. He grabbed the girl by the back of her dress, pulling him up to herself and started to inch back over the edge as his partner's light shone above them.

The date was April 18, 1906 in the early morning hour of 5:12 AM the worst earthquake in the history of San Francisco struck. An earthquake so great it nearly tore the city in half reaching a magnitude of 7.8 on the Richter Scale. That night would be the last night Tara Markov would ever see her mother alive. Dr. Jace and her partner Randall had succeeded in their mission, though they had hoped the mother Mae Koffer would go quietly not wanting to risk the life of her daughter any further. But Mae proved defiant till the very end. Now with Tara's brother Brian, Dr. Jace could finally complete her experiment and duplicate the powers of their late mother without any further interruptions. Seeing that the young woman was no more they departed back to the lab.

"We will have to move our operations Mr. Randall our location has been compromised." She said.

Randall nodded silently as he carried girl in his arms. He looked back over his shoulder at the ledge that claimed Mae's life, along with an untold number of others. He turned forward as Dr. Jace shoved her hands in her coat pockets and continued forward. It would be many years before the city could recover from the damage inflicted on it, which destroyed the Bay City in every way imaginable. The earthquake that night was felt from Los Angeles to Oregon and as far inland as Nevada. A series of fires would erupt throughout the city decimating it even further and displacing all of its citizens. This single night would be considered the greatest natural disaster in the history of California. The epicenter of which came from Mussel Rock two miles out of San Francisco the very place where Mae Koffer met her demise. A lot of lives would be changed that night, and some in ways even greater than they'd ever imagine.

**The Age of Wonder**

10 years after the disaster things had finally started to settle down and close to 99% of San Francisco was rebuilt. With construction crews working at a breakneck pace to restore the city to what it was. Although the memory would no doubt remain fresh in people's minds for years to come, the city had downplayed the severity and almost denied that there was even an earthquake to begin with. Of course anyone that lived in San Francisco knew better.

"Dammit can you believe those guys? They're so desperate for money they acting like the damn quake never even happened!" whined Richard.

"I know right? It's pretty dodgy of them to do so. But that's because we're trying to rebuild our hometown!" said Gar.

"Doesn't mean they have to ignore what happened." Muttered Rich.

"Let it go. Look how far we've come in just a few years. Most of the city's been rebuilt and from what I've heard we've done it in record time. For the past decade the place looked like a bleedin warzone. At least now we got all of those god-awful tent cities out of the beaches and parks." Gar told him.

"Yeah I guess your right. At least the city is looking better. For the first time in years." Said Rich as the two looked out on a bridge.

"Garfield?"

"Yeah mate?"

"You ever think this was some sort of act of God?" asked Rich. His friend sighed.

"I don't know Richie I suppose anything's possible. But what could we have done that would have incurred his holy wrath?" asked Garfield.

"Who knows? Maybe its just our nature to piss em off?" said Rich.

"Well the Day of Judgment hasn't come for us yet. So I wouldn't worry about it." said Gar as a cable car passed down the road behind them.

"Hey wasn't that your ride?" asked Gar.

"Damn!" Rich yelled as they chased after it.

The trolley started to pick up speed as it approached the top of a hill with the guys running as fast as they could. But the trolley got away from them as it went downhill. The guys stopped at the top exasperated. Rich threw his cap on the ground in frustration throwing up a cloud of dust.

"That's just perfect." He muttered.

"C'mon its not like it's the only trolley in town. We'll catch the next one." Said Gar.

"Stop! Police!" someone yelled.

The boys looked up and saw a girl in a black dress running from a market owner and decided to give chase. The girl was close to their age and had long blonde hair as she ran from the guy. Rich and Gar cut across and attempt to stop her, Rich was the first one to reach her grabbing her arm then Gar. As the three struggled with each other, the young woman's leg flew into Gar's crotch and incapacitated the young Brit while she continued to struggle with Rich and attempted to do the same with him. But Rich proved tenacious and wouldn't relinquish his grip until she decked him across the face with her hand. Finally the marketer ran up to her and grabbed her from behind.

"Let me go!" she yelled and drove her foot into Rich's chest knocking him down. Making the marketer lose his balance as well as Tara fell on top of him and got away.

Rich rolled over to his side as he watched her get away. The portly marketer got to his feet and growled as a police officer raced towards them.

"Which way did she go?" he asked.

The man pointed and the officer took off in the general direction where Tara had rounded the corner moments earlier. Tara ran down the dark alley onto to discover it was boarded off. She panted looking for a way out and saw the police officer cast a shadow at the edge of the alleyway behind her. She ducked down behind some crates and prayed to God he didn't see her. But such relief would not come as the police officer slowly made his way into the alleyway. Tara clapped her hand over her mouth and tried to stifle her erratic breathing. She could hear his boots shuffle through the dirt as he examined it from top to bottom. She tried her best to keep quiet and clinched her eyes shut hoping against hope that he wouldn't find her. The policeman grabbed her shoulder causing her to shriek.

"Got ya!" he yelled pulled her up.

Tara struggled against him and tired to remain on the ground, but the policeman was too strong for her and started dragging her back into the light of day.

"Is this her?" he asked as he pulled her over to the market store owner.

"Yeah that's her." the man said.

The police officer wretched the stolen apple from out of the crook of her elbow and gave it back to the man.

"What do you want me to do with her?" he asked the producer.

The man looked at her with a scowl deciding the young woman's fate.

"Throw her in jail." he said. Tara scoffed looking at him in disgust.

"Come on." the policeman said dragging her once more.

"Hold on there Governor." Gar said jumping infront of the officer.

"All she did was steal an apple is that really worth throwing her in the clink?" he asked.

"It was his decision." the policeman told him.

"I understand but dont you think that's going a little overboard? I mean you have the final say in dont ya?" he reasoned.

The policeman looked at him then turned his gaze towards the young girl. And relinquished his grasp on her. Tara threw back her arm rubbing her bicep as she gave him a dirty look.

"If I catch her around here again, there'll be no saving her." he warned.

"Right, thank you Constable." he saluted. The officer nodded and went on his way.

"At least we got Old Bill off your back." he said once the officer was gone.

The girl scowled at the Brit and muttered.

"I guess I should thank you then."

"Why'd you steal that fruit?" Rich finally asked.

"It's none of your business." she said.

"Bugger its not." said Gar.

"Look I appreciate you guys looking out for me, just leave me be." she said before walking off.

"Well that was worth getting jabbed in the knackers." commented Gar.

"You certainly went out on a limb for her." replied Rich.

"I thought she'd thank me for it, shows what I know." he said as they walked off.

Tara remained behind the corner of a brick building listening to them as they left and then went on her own.

_Author's Note: All right what'd you think of that? Hope you guys liked it. If there are any British readers, I wouldnt mind some imput. _

_Please review, _

_Green Gallant. _


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